Chapter 688: Vol V Chapter 48

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The big team walked along a rather narrow road. This road could be likened to a long dragon where neither head nor tail could be seen, and it linked from the horizon on the east side to the horizon on the west side.

This was the merchants’ migration team.

To prevent a war, the Goddess of Wealth had eventually suggested the idea of the merchants heading north and the aristocrats heading south, officially dividing the Commonwealth into two. Despite protests by the middle-class and lower-class folk, the upper-level merchants and aristocrats accepted this suggestion after some discussions. To them, this method was definitely better than war. Even though both sides were itching to destroy the other party and steal the enemy’s money and property, both were scared to lose.

For the aristocrats, even though they had a presumed advantage, it was not a confirmed victory. Furthermore, individuals were also uncertain of the future even if they had inheritances, as they might be lost or stolen in battle. Thus, both parties felt that a separation was still the best solution, even if the merchants who were already in the north and aristocrats who were already in the south disagreed.

After the decision was made, both sides started the long journey in their respective directions.

This was probably the largest physical change in the Commonwealth ever since the mass human migration. The total number of merchants and aristocrats added together was nearly a million!

Originally, the merchants suggested that they only take their inheritance and families with them and not move the people. They mentioned that money could be used to buy the aristocratic folk. However, the aristocrats in the south discussed the matter and decided to move people so as not to leave the merchants with all their human resources. This was to prevent the merchants from becoming stronger and also to make sure that they had enough manpower to take control of the south.

With the migration of the merchants in the south, only their developed properties were left behind due to their vast numbers. To maintain these properties, the aristocrats required much more people (including migrants from the north) to use their farming methods. More importantly, having people was the foundation of their rule. Their private army was made up of the common folk. Even if it was not apparent now, sometime in the future, their numbers would dwindle if the overall population was reduced in size.

The central government in the Commonwealth was not strong, and the aristocratic leaders had their own private fighters and assassins. Overall, there were senses of trouble in the air. If there was no trusty army, even if the aristocrats reached the south, they would still be sitting ducks.

When the merchants in the south discovered that the aristocrats in the north wanted to migrate their full population, they naturally protested till the two clans’ leaders became extremely stressed. Nevertheless, with the decision already made, the aristocrats could not back down now, or they would risk losing face.

Towards the southern merchants’ threats and attempts at persuasion, the aristocrats showed no signs of backing down and explicitly signaled that they wanted to maintain the interests of the migrating aristocrats.

This caused much tension, but the southern merchants had no way to refute those migrating over. Originally, they had wanted to gain control over the migrating aristocrats and make use of their resources. Of course, they had previously intended to keep this a secret, but the open tension made their true intentions painfully clear. The situation was now extremely awkward.Update by vip novel

The migrating aristocrats were not just uneasy, they were also angry. They almost had an opportunity to benefit from the brawl within the Commonwealth, but now it was gone. On the surface, though, the southern aristocrats portrayed an indifferent façade and acted like the internal conflicts of the Commonwealth didn’t bother them. To them, leaving their home many years back and starting anew in the south had been extremely difficult, and they did not want it to be in vain. They wanted to gain all the benefits that they could since this had been a longtime plan. Now that it was exposed, they felt rather awkward and angry as well. The opportunity could well be lost!

The aristocrats even had several strong ones who turned their attention to the two marquis of the Commonwealth and wanted to take them down. They were behaving like a group of jackals who wanted to secure their own positions, and to do so, they decided to go for the top of the social order.

Even humans on Earth who used the Internet knew the idea of gaining power through taking down leaders, what more for these vicious and cunning aristocrats?

Seeing the large numbers of migrants from the aristocrats’ side moving towards the south, the merchants who had intended to pack light naturally changed their minds and started splurging to prepare large amounts of food and gather large crowds of people. They formed a pioneering team to start off the journey towards the north.

The aristocrats in the south were not willing to let their people go, as they were the foundation of the land. If they were to leave, who would they order around? They would then be nobodies in the Commonwealth, just like dogs! Of course, they would not just sit and watch this chaos but rather decided to take action like a dog would. They immediately took action against the merchants who now planned to migrate, but the merchants also stood their ground. More chaos had thus erupted.

Everyone understood the importance of human resources. With insufficient manpower, an area could not develop. The upper-class people would be forced to do menial tasks if there were insufficient middle and lower-class people to do it for them. Thus motivated by their unwillingness to do so, they oppressed the people violently. They also set down the ground rule that the merchants from a single area could only take away a maximum of 30 percent of the population there. In the end, only 30 percent of the entire south’s manpower would leave.

In the Commonwealth, the south was slightly richer, and the population count was slightly higher. This 30 percent was comparable to about 60 percent of the northern population count. Such a decision could satisfy the merchants as well while maintaining the population count in the south. In any case, the south did not just have aristocrats but also merchants.

Thus, the merchants traveled north and the aristocrats traveled south. Countless people traveled along the long, long road towards their intended destinations.

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